Let us now survey the whole situation. As over 90 per cent. of the Christians at Urmi are destitute, and the condition of some 10,000 to 15,000 Armenians and Syrians in Salmas is not much better, we have at once some 80,000 people and more who must be assisted, if they are not to starve during the coming winter. In this we are not taking into account the remnant of Mar Shimun’s people or any Armenians that might have found their way to Persia, where the Russians are now in occupation, and where the condition of the Christians will be, so far as personal safety goes, more hopeful. The turn events are taking politically in Persia seems also favourable, but one must never be too confident of the political situation there. I am delighted to see such a magnificent spirit of response from all corners of the world whence Armenians themselves are coming to the help of their countrymen. We have to cheer each other up in our misfortunes in every way we can, till God in His own way shall solve the problem. And with such noble friends as we have in England, among whom are the Primate, Lord Bryce, and Members of Parliament like Mr. Aneurin Williams and Mr. T.P. O’Connor, and I am sure in America as well—people who would do anything for us—let us be patient and prayerful, hoping for recompense and release from this tyranny that has had us in its grip ever since Mohammedan rule began in our country. ----- Footnote 52: For a fuller version of Mr. Shimmon’s statement see p. 577 below. Footnote 53: Mr. Shimmon is a graduate of Columbia University, New York, and has been resident at Urmia for the past fourteen years. He was an eye-witness of the events he relates; and, after the retreat of the Turks and Kurds, he was appointed Commissioner for the Baranduz District of Urmia (under the authority of the Russian Consul and the Persian Governor) for the restoration of plundered Christian property. He has since undertaken a mission to Great Britain and the U.S., as the representative of His Beatitude Mar Shimun, the head of the Nestorian Church. Footnote 54: 1 toman = 10 krans, and its actual value in English money is about 3_s._ 4_d._—_Editor._ 37. HAKKIARI: FURTHER STATEMENT BY MR. PAUL SHIMMON, PUBLISHED IN THE “CHURCHMAN” NEWSPAPER, AND SUBSEQUENTLY ISSUED AS A PAMPHLET; COMMUNICATED BY MRS. D.S. MARGOLIOUTH, OF OXFORD. The following is the story of how a Bishop, nay, an Archbishop, at the risk of his own life, saved 35,000 souls—one-third of his flock—from the pursuing Kurds and Turks, and from impending starvation on the heights of the Kurdistan Mountains. He was already in the zone of safety, where he could well have stayed; but he turned back, saying: “I am going back to die with my people.” By so doing, he rescued a multitude of his people from almost certain massacre.